pdf2htmlEX

A beautiful demo is worth a thousand words:

• Typography Original

• Full Circle Magazine(large) Sample Original

• Formulas Original

• Scientific Paper Original

• Chinese Original

Introduction

pdf2htmlEX renders PDF files in HTML, utilizing modern Web technologies, aims to provide an accuracy rendering, while keeping optimized for Web display.

It is optimized for modern web browsers. On Linux/Mac, the generated HTML pages could be as beautiful as PDF files.

This program is designed for scientific papers with complicate formulas and figures, therefore precise rendering is the #1 concern. But of course general PDF files are also supported.

Why HTML ?

HTML, together with CSS and Javascript, is much more open and flexible than PDF. Almost everything can be customized.

• Embedding documents to web pages with consistent theme and behavior
• Cross references to other documents are much easier and intuitive
• More functions to the document with Javascript, e.g. access control, animation, statistics

Readers can also be benefitted

• Read while downloading
• Plugin-free

Features

• Optional single HTML file output
• Precise rendering
• Text perserved - you can select & copy & paste
• Proper styling
  • Font - extracted and reencoded
  • Color
  • Transformation
• Links
• Outline
• [EXPERIMENTAL] Path drawing with CSS
  • Orthogonal lines
  • Rectangles
  • Linear gradients
• Not fully supported (Rendered as images)
  • Type 3 fonts
  • Non-text object

Get started

Install

Thanks to all packagers!

• Ubuntu PPA by Lu Wang coolwanglu@gmail.com, not always up-to-date.
• ArchLinux AUR by Arthur Titeica arthur.titeica@gmail.com
• Gentoo Overlay, gentoo-zh, mrueg or sunrise, by respective packagers.
• Homebrew Formula by Jamie Ly me@jamie.ly
• Macports (local repo) by Deepak Thukral iapain@iapa.in

Build from source

Dependency

• CMake, pkg-config
• GNU Getopt
• compilers support C++11, for example
• GCC >= 4.4.6
• I heard about successful build with Clang
• poppler with xpdf header >= 0.20.0 (compile with --enable-xpdf-headers)
• Install libpng (and headers) BEFORE you compile poppler if you want background images generated
• Install poppler-data if your want CJK support
• fontforge (with header files)
• git version is recommended to avoid annoying compilation issues
• [Optional] ttfautohint
• run pdf2htmlEX with --external-hint-tool=ttfautohint to enable it
• [For Windows]
• Cygwin
• or MinGW, with some modifications to pdf2htmlEX. See pdf2htmlEX on TeX Wiki (in Japanese), special thanks to Haruhiko Okumura

Compiling

git clone --depth 1 git://github.com/coolwanglu/pdf2htmlEX.git
cd pdf2htmlEX
cmake . && make && sudo make install

Usage

pdf2htmlEX /path/to/foobar.pdf
pdf2htmlEX --help
man pdf2htmlEX

FAQ

• Troubleshooting compilation errors
• The demo pages are ugly
• How can I help
• I want more features
• More

LICENSE

GPLv2 & GPLv3 Dual licensed

pdf2htmlEX is totally free, please credit pdf2htmlEX if you use it

Please consider sponsoring it if you use it for commercial purpose

Font extraction, conversion or redistribution may be illegal, please check your local laws

Donate Now

Acknowledge

pdf2htmlEX is made possible thanks to the following projects:

• poppler
• Fontforge
• jQuery

pdf2htmlEX is inspired by the following projects:

• pdftops & pdftohtml from poppler
• MuPDF
• PDF.js
• Crocodoc
• Google Doc

Contact

• Mailing list pdf2htmlex@googlegroups.com

  • Please read man pdf2htmlEX and FAQ before sending emails. Or your message might be ignored.
  • Please use the latest master branch.

• Lu Wang coolwanglu@gmail.com

  • Please use the mailing list above unless for personal enquiries.
  • Accepting messages in Chinese, English or Japanese.

Special Thanks

• Hongliang Tian tatetian@gmail.com
• Wanmin Liu wanminliu@gmail.com